European stocks diverge awaiting clear US rate outlook

London / AFP

Eurozone stock markets rose on Monday looking ahead to a key meeting of central bankers at the end of the week, but London retreated on heavy falls for heavyweight mining shares. Around 1000 GMT, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 was down 0.4 percent compared with the close on Friday.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 rose 0.3 percent and the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.2 percent.
Investors were looking ahead to “a relatively quiet week with (Fed chief) Janet Yellen headlining on Friday with her speech” at the Jackson Hole gathering of central bankers, said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda trading group.
“The Jackson Hole event has previously been a platform for the Fed to provide more clarity to the markets and warn about upcoming policy changes, something the market is currently in desperate need of.”
The dollar rose against the euro and yen on Monday after the Federal Reserve’s vice chairman said the US economy was picking up.
Stanley Fischer on Sunday said that the world’s top economy was meeting all the Fed’s targets and that growth would improve, hinting that borrowing costs could rise this year.
“It has become clear in recent days that Fed officials are increasingly divided over the timing of when to move on rates next, and their constant briefings to the market aren’t helping in this regard, which probably explains why US markets have struggled for direction in the past few weeks,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s July meeting published last week showed that policymakers wanted to keep their “options open” for monetary policy as they assess the global economic outlook.
The board was divided on the near-term danger of inflation, with some seeing little threat but others worried that there could be a sudden upward push on prices as the jobs market tightens.